Those We Forget
by upsetrise
Summary: Oneshot. Jack never gets visitors but when an old woman comes to the lake, he can't help but watch her.


**It's been so long since I uploaded something here but I hope you enjoy this oneshot I wrote one day when I was bored.**

When he saw the old woman coming to the lake, he didn't know what to think. He flew down to stand behind her, sending a gust of wind billowing through the snow. Flecks of it began to pick up and danced on the wind before finally settling just before the old woman's feet. The old woman shivered gripping her cloak over her but during all this, her hood had fallen out.

Jack could only see the back of her head which was covered in greying hair that was kept in a braid. He stayed behind her for a moment as she began to walk towards the other side of the lake. She hobbled over the snow, keeping one foot in the front of the other. Jack wished he could help her get to where ever she was going but she wouldn't be able to see him.

Eventually she reached the other side of the lake and went towards the thicket of the woods. Even though it was winter and the bare branches of the trees showed the secrets that the woods usually hid. The place where she removed branches were thick and masked the other side.

He was getting intrigued now and followed her through the thicket until she came across a clearing where a single epitaph was buried by the white snow. The woman bent down and dusted at the snow until it could be seen. Jack flew over to one of the trees overhanging nearby and sat on the branches swinging his legs back and forth.

The old woman removed something from her cloak and placed it on the ground. Jack began to inch closer keeping until the branch began to droop underneath his weight. He may have been light enough to be carried by the window but the branch he lay on was thin and was barely supporting him. He caught a quick glimpse of the object and it looked like a very old shoe with a single metal bar on the bottom of it. It was an ice skate, something that Jack had seen quite a lot of. However this particular ice skate, there was something about it but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Jack," The woman spoke. Her voice was a lullaby.

He could see her breath rising into mist.

Jack? That was his name. No that was ridiculous, she couldn't see him. It had to be 'Jack's' grave.

He flew down from the branch to sit beside her. He could see her face. Wizened with age, wrinkles invading on what would have once been a beautiful face. She was beautiful now, but a different sort of beautiful. The beautiful that appears when someone has travelled through life, carried sins and trauma on their shoulders. The beautiful of old age.

"It's been a long time." She said again, running a finger over the grave.

"A long time huh?" Jack replied to her clutching his staff. In his moments of loneliness, he liked to pretend that he was having a conversation with people. To make that empty pit to subside just for a short while.

"I've been meaning to come but this winter has been rough. My husband passed away. I told him to say hi for me. I wonder if he's here now, or if you're even here. I wish you could tell me. Some sign."

Jack sent a flurry of snow out his staff and it began to drift down on the old woman. He didn't know why he did. He just wanted to give her that sign.

The woman smiled as she saw the snow. "You are here." For a moment, she looked across at the spot where Jack was in. It felt like she was staring right at him. Jack saw tears in her eyes and then dripped down her cheeks.

"Be safe Jack. I love you and thank you for what you did. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you." The old woman stood up, wiped her eyes and walked away.

"I will." Jack found himself whispering and went to wipe his own eyes before the tears froze. Why was he crying? Who was that old woman? Why did he feel like he knew her? He went to the grave and took the ice skate, storing it in his tree of treasures.

He would search high and low for that old woman to find out who she was but the sad thing was, he never saw her again.


End file.
